Enroll

Find the degree that works for you and enroll.

Organize

Look through the degree requirements and objectives and mark off what you know.

Review the objectives for your coursework, and mark any that you have already mastered, then focus on the objectives you need to work on. You'll always have a visual reminder of which lessons you still need to master.

Test

When you feel you have mastered the course objectives, take the test.

When you are ready to take the test, you'll work through a range of computer-scored questions, each tied to a specific objective. This can give you a sense for any objectives still needing work. You can review and re-test until you are ready to verify your mastery.

Learn

Each section has a collection of resources that will help you master the objective.

Teachur is competency-based. You get credit for mastering objectives, not just spending time in class. Each objective includes relevant instructional media, like videos, entries in online encyclopedias, helpful websites, etc. to help you learn. You can also recommend different media. Study up until you are ready to test.

Verify

Once you have passed your exams and completed your projects, meet us online and we will verify you have completed the work.

When you are ready to verify your mastery, you'll meet in a video conference with an expert who will ask more open-ended questions about the course materials. Once you have satisfied the expert that you have mastered the objectives, they will verify your mastery, and that’s it--you pass the course.

Who would use Teachur?

Jane has a good job right out of high school, but really wants to get her degree.

Jorge has been working in his field for 15 years but feels limited without a degree.

Yuki just moved to the US and is finding it difficult in her field with a foreign degree.

The Teachur Manifesto

(June 7, 2016)

Education should be available and accessible to every person on earth; making quality education inaccessible or exclusive is immoral. Education belongs in the same category as shelter, clean water, and basic food.

Education should be disconnected from geography. Students should be able to learn anything from anywhere on earth. With few exceptions, tying education to geography is a form of exclusion.

Education should be disconnected from a schedule. The most effective time to learn something is when the student is ready, not when the teacher or institution is available.

Education should not be admission- or permission-based, but freely available upon the asking. The current admission-based system is a vestige of a scarcity model that could only fit a limited number of seats in a classroom. No one should have to be admitted or ask permission to learn a subject.

Education should not have a prescribed completion time. The amount of time it takes to learn something shouldn’t be decided before hand; some students can learn something in minutes that will take others days or years to learn.

Education should not be set to a specific time period in a person’s life; it should be a process like eating, drinking, and exercise: continual, habitual, and evolving. Students should not be categorized or limited by what they have studied or learned to date.

Education should not be competitive or judged by other students’ achievements. Students should only be assessed on whether they have mastered the stated objective or ‘not yet’. Removing competition decreases the incentive for cheating or cutting corners.

Educational records, including learning achievements, grades, transcripts, credentials, and degrees should be owned and managed by the student rather than an institution. Students should be able to move freely between any learning institution or organization at anytime or for any reason.

Educational records should include universally understandable, useful, and verifiable documentation of student mastery of explicit learning objectives, rather than an institutional stamp attesting to completion of a vague curriculum.

Education should not have a prescribed way of teaching. Prevalent teaching approaches are often culturally, gender or socio-economically biased. While clear and explicit learning objectives can be universally agreed upon, the manner in which these are achieved should be as diverse as the student body.

Educational learning paths should be personalized and as varied and diverse as the students pursuing them.

Education should not be at the service of institutions, but at the service of learning. Organizing education around institutional timelines, schedules, expertise, records, and convenience is efficient for institutions, but limits the student, and by extension humanity’s potential.

About Us

Josh Stanley

Josh holds Master's Degrees in Mass Communications and Digital Media Studies and is ABD in Instructional Design. With a background in media production/media theory/design and education, Josh has spent the past 15 years working in higher education as an instructional technologist and designer. While working at the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, he helped develop the case program at the J-school. More recently he has worked in public higher education where he has seen the good and the bad of the modern education landscape.

Ben Blair PhD

Ben holds a PhD in Philosophy and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has spent several years teaching courses in foundations of education at the college level. He spent much of the last 20 years evaluating, developing, and aligning curriculum across a range of disciplines, including five years as Director of specialized curriculum with K12.com, a leading provider of online education.

Teachur was created because it was a tool that we wanted to use. Having worked in higher ed for the past
15 years, we saw the need for something that would not only cut down on the time it took to design
course content, but also improve the quality.

As we worked on developing the Teachur platform, we found we could build lessons, courses, and degrees
in hours or days instead of months. This led us to a realization that the exorbitant cost at
universities were not reflective of the degree curriculum, but rather, some other costs. We decided to
find out how much it would cost to build a stripped down degree program comparable to the essential
objectives at other universities, but built on our platform optimized for this, and delivered and
assessed online.

Our research took us all over the place, reviewing programs at conventional and online universities, as well as readily available disruptive resources like MOOCs, instructional online websites and videos, etc. When we looked seriously at the cost of actually verifying a student's mastery, once we have an optimized platform for hosting learning objectives (or intended learning outcomes) and assessments, our analysis ultimately settled around $1000 for a college degree. This conclusion was energizing for the potential to open and offer education to a much wider audience--and shift education from a scarcity to an abundance model. It was also disheartening to see that, while technology was enabling a much more expansive potential for educating the world, U.S. universities were still charging $120,000+, and there was no clear end to their raising prices. As a force for making quality education available and accessible to every person on earth, we're thrilled to share Teachur with the world.

We are committed to radically improving instructional design. Have a suggestion or idea that would
improve Teachur? Email us at contact@teachur.co

Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT EQUIPMENT WILL I NEED?

You will need access to a Windows- or Mac-based computer as well as a microphone, camera (these may be part of the computer, or separate devices plugged into the computer) and internet fast enough to handle streaming video. Learning can be done online or off-line. Tests and counseling sessions will be conducted through video chat on the Teachur site. No third-party software is needed. It is safest to consider the learning platform on Teachur in beta for mobile devices. While tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices may allow for some completion of coursework, they are not guaranteed to work in all areas.

HOW DO I ENROLL IN TEACHUR?

A student is enrolled once they have completed registration, and “enrolled” in a degree or course (by clicking on the “enroll” button).

WILL TEACHUR ACCEPT TRANSFER CREDITS?

The likely answer is no. All required assessments for a degree on Teachur must be passed in order to earn a degree. If you have mastered the objectives for a course or a set of courses, you can move right to the assessment phase. Since our degrees will reflect verified mastery, students will need to demonstrate mastery, not just a grade on a transcript. But if you have mastered the material, you can make your way through required assessments quickly.

IS TEACHUR AN ACCREDITED SCHOOL?

Not yet, we’re too new to be eligible. We’ll be eligible to apply in February, 2019. While we are not yet accredited, we are registered as a proprietary postsecondary school in Utah, which is the first step toward accreditation. For more information about our accreditation application see our accreditation status and process

WHAT DEGREES IS TEACHUR OFFERING?

We are currently offering an Associate of Arts Degree, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy. The Associate of Arts degree also acts as the “General Education” requirement for any Bachelor degree we offer now or in the future. We are initially targeting people who are interested in earning a Philosophy degree, but if you are interested in a different degree, you could first complete the Associate’s degree, then complete your selected degree when it is available. We will also be launching other coursework for our next degrees (including Business, Education, Graphic Design, and Computer Science--these are based on user feedback we have received) in the next few months, but these degrees won't be formally launched until after we are accredited--this is to simplify the accreditation application.

HOW CAN YOU CHARGE SO LITTLE FOR A COLLEGE DEGREE?

First, we’re not providing any fancy stadiums, or alumni centers, etc.. Second, we’re not providing live teaching or instruction for every lesson. Instead, we leverage the abundant free high quality online resources for this. And while we provide instructional material, you are also welcome to use whatever materials or resources you find to master the objectives. Teachur does not dictate or verify how or where you learn the information, only that you learned it. And assessing that you have mastered the target objectives is where the live expert is vital, so we leverage abundant high quality free material online for most instruction, and provide an expert where it’s necessary.

HOW DOES TEACHUR WORK?

When you open a degree on Teachur, you’ll be able to view all the objectives you need to master. If you feel you have mastered them (or a subset of them), you can move right to the assessment phase. If not, we can point you to some resources to help you master the objectives, then, when you are ready, you can take an assessment. To earn a degree, you must pass all required assessments for the degree.

WHAT IS THE REFUND POLICY?

Students may receive a full refund within a five-business-day cooling-off period of their initial registration payment ($249.95). No refunds are given for past enrolled months, or for the registration fee after the cooling off period, but enrollees can cancel their Teachur subscription, or “enrolled” status at any time. If a student cancels their subscription, and then enrolls again, they must again pay the initial registration fee. In order to cancel your subscription, send an email to: ben@teachur.co with the subject “Cancel subscription”.

HOW ARE TEACHUR DEGREES CREATED?

We first carefully align to degree programs in respected universities (like UCLA, and UT Austin). We align in terms of degree objectives and assessments. This means we review program requirements online, or in person if needed, and also work with professors from a degree program to vouch for the fidelity of our program to existing conventional standards.

HOW DOES A TEACHUR DEGREE COMPARE TO A DEGREE AT A CONVENTIONAL UNIVERSITY?

In terms of degree requirements or objectives, a Teachur degree is very similar to a degree at a traditional university. Outside of the actual degree requirements, we are very different. We are careful in our degree development stage to ensure our degrees reflect objectives at respected universities, and we formally revisit these annually, plus our social platform enables us to adapt and adjust quickly if needed. But earning a degree on Teachur involves demonstrating through a range of assessments that you have mastered each required objective.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS TO USE TEACHUR (TUITION, BOOKS, SUPPLIES, SPECIAL TUTORING, LATE PAYMENTS, GRADUATION FEES, COUNSELING, ETC . . . .)?

All courses, lessons, assessments, graduation fees, and counseling are included in the registration and monthly subscription fees on Teachur ($249.95 and $39.95, respectively). Tutoring, or live instruction via Teachur is not currently offered.

When possible and advisable, we use free online resources (including textbooks) for course work. Some courses have recommended books that are not available for free online. Some courses require additional equipment. Books or supplies for courses are not included in the registration or subscription fees.

WHAT OCCUPATION WILL A PHILOSOPHY DEGREE FROM TEACHUR PREPARE ME FOR?

The philosophy degree on Teachur provides a background suitable for a wide variety of career options including law, business, politics, teaching, journalism, counseling, writing, etc. While many philosophy graduates pursue work upon completion of the bachelor degree program (such as director, manager, writer, or analyst positions in a wide range of business, community, or governmental organizations) most view the philosophy degree as a superb foundation for a wide range of graduate programs. Students with a philosophy degree are desirable for numerous careers given their strong background in logic and argumentation, excellent reading and writing skills, and highly-developed critical thinking skills.

WHAT OCCUPATION WILL AN ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE FROM TEACHUR PREPARE ME FOR?

The Associate of Arts degree on Teachur provides a good foundation in the traditional core of higher learning: Science, English language arts, Social science, Fine Arts, Math, Health, History, etc. With an Associate’s Degree from Teachur, candidates would be qualified for a range of occupations, including: Business office manager, medical receptionist, dental office manager, administrative assistant, customer service agent, teacher assistant, etc.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO EARN A DEGREE ON TEACHUR?

This depends on the student and the degree. You should expect that a degree on Teachur will be as time-intensive as a degree from a conventional university. But if you have mastered all of the objectives, and can pass all the assessments, you can complete a degree in much less time. If it takes you a longer time to master the objectives it may take longer than a typical college degree. Unlike other degree programs, you move through Teachur on your own timeline. There’s no waiting for other students to catch up or waiting for the professor to move through their prescribed curriculum. And there’s no expectation that you will master the material during your first exposure to it. You move at your own pace.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE ME TO COMPLETE A PHILOSOPHY DEGREE?

[See response above about our attitude toward educational schedules.] For the sake of comparison, if a student were to pursue a mostly full time load (average 15 credits per semester) over a typical 2 semester per year schedule, they would finish in 4 years, or 120 credit hours. Because Teachur is optimized for efficiency (e.g. you don’t need to spend time on a topic if you have already mastered it) students can complete degree requirements in a faster time frame.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE ME TO COMPLETE AN ASSOCIATE’S DEGREE?

[See response above about our attitude toward educational schedules.] For the sake of comparison, if a student were to pursue a mostly full time load (average 5 courses per semester) over a typical 2 semester per year schedule, they would finish in 2 years, or 60 credit hours. Because Teachur is optimized for efficiency (e.g. you don’t need to spend time on a topic if you have already mastered it) students can complete degree requirements in a faster time frame.

WHAT ARE THE GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS TO COMPLETE A BACHELOR’S DEGREE?

Each degree has certain required courses, most courses have required projects (like written papers, or videos, etc.). Some degrees include capstone projects beyond the courses. Once the degree requirements are met, a bachelor’s degree diploma will be granted (both online and a hard copy mailed to the student). In accordance with U.S. university standards, A Bachelor’s degree on Teachur requires a minimum of 120 semester credit hours.

SO IS THIS JUST A FOR-PROFIT SCHOOL?

While Teachur is a for-profit company, we believe a free market is a good solution to the problems of expensive costs to higher ed, and the corollary of massive student debt. The for-profit schools most people are familiar with are based on a student loan revenue model. The problem with these is that they exacerbate rather than solve the problems. What should trouble us is not which of several models is used, but what are the most effective means to address the problems. We believe Teachur is perfectly suited to address the problems of expensive cost and massive debt. Currently, all the other available models of higher ed are built on gouging students, and the biggest beneficiaries are banks. We are hoping to offer an alternative.